OPPOSITION TO LOMBARD MALL MOUNTS

Rudolph UngerCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Developers hoping to build a long-delayed shopping center on Roosevelt Road in Lombard have had another hurdle placed in their path.

Officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which must issue a permit for the project because some of the site contains wetlands, said they have received objections to the project from two federal and two state agencies as well as from owners of homes next to the property.

John Rogner, a member of the corps` regulatory branch, said opposing the developer`s proposal are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Illinois Department of Conservation, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and residents of the York Center Community Cooperative.

Though Lombard approved plans for the High Pointe Centre and the annexation of the 34-acre site on the south side of Roosevelt Road at Fairfield Avenue after nearly two years of negotiations, the village`s approval is contingent on the corps` issuance of the permit because nine of the acres are wetlands.

The developer, First National Realty & Development Co. of Chicago, modified its plans to meet objections and said it would provide on-site retention facilities as well as drainage.

But Rogner said the federal fish and wildlife and environmental officials still fear the wetlands would be lost.

He also said the nearby residents` group believes the shopping center could cause flooding on their property.

The corps spokesman added that the state historic agency requested that an archeologist be retained to determine whether the site contains any artifacts of significance. Anne Haaker, cultural resources coordinator of the historic agency, said if significant artifacts were to be found the agency would ask that they be removed before development occurred.

Rogner said the developer must show that there are no alternatives to its design plan for the center to meet the objections or that it would be unable to use some other site for its development.